The iPhone SE won\u2019t get off my mind. Partly it\u2019s because I\u2019m in pain thanks to some long-needed nasal surgery and gooned on opiates, and in need of distraction, but partly because the reviews are starting to trickle in and they\u2019re uniformly just what I\u2019ve hoped for: a premium phone at a better price point that makes no meaningful concessions and gives you a quart in a pint pot, with significantly better battery life. And after fiddling with an old 5S for a couple of days because of the reduced dexterity the drugs gave me, I\u2019ve come to realize that the beginnings of joint pain in the first knuckle of my middle finger on both hands is probably down to gripping an iPhone 6 for a year and change.<\/p>\n
But my iPhone 6 got unlocked and I got my 703 number, two of the biggest things that made me want a new phone in the first place, so the traditional urge to need<\/em> the things I want isn\u2019t there, and it\u2019s a tough one to justify. There are a lot of things like that floating around lately. The new solid-color Rickshaw Sutro backpacks are only $99, half what they usually cost – but I have two messenger bags more suited for carry-on and don\u2019t carry my laptop back and forth at work enough to need a bigger backpack than the tiny Timbuk2 I\u2019m currently using. \u00a0I really like the retro-60s-NASA-engineer-in-short-sleeves look of the Warby Parker Ames frames, but I have a pair of prescription glasses I spent way too much on three years ago and don\u2019t wear enough as is. I really REALLY like the look of the new Coast, the classic single-speed beach cruiser by Priority Bicycles which is belt-drive and basically salt-and-weather-proof, but I don\u2019t ride my Public M8 enough as it is. The Apple Smart Battery Case would easily double the life of my iPhone 6\u2026which I\u2019m trying to talk myself out of using, and which has one battery case and half a dozen battery packs in the drawer already.<\/p>\n This led me to think of my Zippo collection. I haven\u2019t carried a lighter regularly in a decade or more, but the Zippo is one of our greatest technological achievements: simple and elegant, made in Bradford PA since 1932, a wind-resistant source of fire with only a flint and almost any flammable liquid. It\u2019s as perfect a device fit to purpose as exists. \u00a0And in so many ways, so is the Coast. So is the Sutro. So is the iPhone SE. The draw of that ideally suited perfect fit is compelling even when what I already have and use is 85% of the way there. Unlike the phone, though, it\u2019s safe to assume my Timbuk2 and Rickshaw messengers will last a lifetime unless deliberately damaged, as will my new California cap or my Navy surplus peacoat or my Alden boots.\u00a0<\/p>\n But if anything happens to my work phone, at all, a rose gold iPhone SE in the midnight blue leather case is going in my pocket in a heartbeat, believe that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The iPhone SE won\u2019t get off my mind. Partly it\u2019s because I\u2019m in pain thanks to some long-needed nasal surgery and gooned on opiates, and in need of distraction, but partly because the reviews are starting to trickle in and they\u2019re uniformly just what I\u2019ve hoped for: a premium phone at a better price point … <\/p>\n